US Men Take Silver in 4 by 400 Relay

Published

August 10, 2012

Angelo Taylor of the U.S. trails Bahamas' Ramon Miller in the 4x400m final.

By Peter GambacciniConsidering how depleted the U.S. men's 4x400 relay was, silver behind the victorious Bahamas quartet is quite an accomplishment. The American relay effort had been weakened by injuries to the last two Olympic 400-meter gold medalists, LaShawn Merritt (2008) and Jeremy Wariner (2004). And then Manteo Mitchell, who'd led off the American team in the semi-finals, actually broke his leg during that race. He managed to finish, bravely, but he obviously wasn't going to be available for Friday's final.The experienced Angelo Taylor was recruited. The 2000 and 2008 Olympic 400-meter hurdles gold medalist had been on gold medal relays at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and at three world championships. He ended up anchoring the team behind efforts by Bryshon Nellum, Joshua Mance, and Tony McQuay. It was a noble endeavor but not quite enough; Taylor was unable to hold off Bahamian anchorman Ramon Miller. Bahamas got gold in a national record 2:56.72, the U.S. the silver in 2:57.05, and Trinidad & Tobago the bronze in 2:59.40, also a national record.The second runner for the Bahamas, Demetrius Pinder, established a substantial lead which American Tony McQuay wiped out by running the third leg in 43.4. Taylor stayed slightly ahead for much of the last lap until Ramon Miller of the Bahamas passed him in the middle of the final straightaway.Final Results - August 10
1. Chris Brown; Demetrius Pinder; Michael Mathieu; Ramon Miller, BAH, 2:56.72
2. Bryshon Nellum; Joshua Mance; Tony McQuay; Angelo Taylor, USA, 2:57.05
3. Lalonde Gordon; Jarrin Solomon; Ade Alleyne-Forte; Deon Lendore, TRI, 2:59.40
4. Conrad Williams; Jack Green; David Greene; Martyn Rooney, GBR, 2:59.53
5. Maksim Dyldin; Denis Alekseyev; Vladimir Krasnov; Pavel Trenikhin, RUS, 3:00.09
6. Kévin Borlée; Antoine Gillet; Jonathan Borlée; Michaël Bultheel, BEL, 3:01.83
7. Arturo Ramírez; Alberto Aguilar; Albert Bravo; Omar Longart, VEN, 3:02.18
8. Shaun de Jager; Willem de Beer; L.J. van Zyl; Oscar Pistorius, RSA, 3:03.46
9. William Collazo; Raidel Acea; Noel Ruíz; Omar Cisneros, CUB, DNF

Semi-Finals StoryPhoto of Jeremy Wariner by Victah SailerThe American 4x400 relay team has made the final at the London Olympics despite the loss of the relay pool's two most experienced athletes due to injury. A team comprised of Manteo Mitchell, Joshua Mance, Tony McQuay and Bryshon Nellum ran 2:58.87 in the semi-finals on Thursday, taking the second place with the same time as a first place Bahamas squad anchored by Chris Brown. A Jamaican foursome did not finish as Jermaine Gonzales pulled up and stopped on the third leg.South Africa, with "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius on the third leg, will be in the 4x400 final. Their second runner was knocked down in an incident with a Kenyan runner in the semi-final and Pistorius never got the chance to run. But a protest claiming they were impeded by Kenya has earned South Africa a spot in the relay final.The United States still has a strong shot at a medal in the final despite the loss of its two most experienced 4x400 relay athletes. Earlier in the London Games, defending Olympics 400-meter champion LaShawn Merritt was unable to complete his 400 heat due to a hamstring injury and had to withdraw from the remainder of these Olympics.And then Jeremy Wariner, who won 400-meter gold in 2004 and silver in 2008 and was part of gold medal U.S. 4x400 relays in both of those years, became unavailable for the relay in London due to his own hamstring problems. Wariner was sixth in the 400 at the U.S. Olympic Trials but had been made part of the relay pool.Wariner told NBC's Dallas affiliate that he'd injured his hamstring a workout last Friday and that an MRI had shown a tear in it. He'll miss the remainder of this track season. MoreThe American relay story got even stranger later on Thursday. Manteo Mitchell ran his opening segment of the relay on a broken leg. "Three days ago I was going up the stairs and I kind of missed one and landed awkwardly," he said in a USATF statement. "I got treatment and I was fine. I did workouts, and when I warmed up today I felt really well. I felt I could go 44 (seconds)-low. I got out pretty slow, but I picked it up and when I got to the 100-meter mark it felt weird. I was thinking I just didn’t feel right."As soon as I took the first step past the 200-meter mark, I felt it break," he continued. I heard it. I even put out a little war cry, but the crowd was so loud you couldn’t hear it. I wanted to just lie down. It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half."I knew if I finished strong we could still get it (the baton) around,” he continued. “I saw Josh Mance motioning me in for me to hand it off to him, which lifted me. I didn’t want to let those three guys down, or the team down, so I just ran on it. It hurt so bad. I’m pretty amazed that I still split 45 seconds on a broken leg."After the race, Mitchell the leg was x-rayed and diagnosed by team doctor Bob Adams as a break of his left fibula bone. Team USA will announce the final lineup for the men’s 4x400 relay on Friday morning. A source tells us that Angelo Taylor will be part of it.